DWI has recently been recognized as a potential clinical
tool for the diagnosis, assessment and treatment monitoring of cancer outside
the central nervous system (CNS). Even though single-shot EPI (ss-EPI) is the
preferred method for these applications, its resolution is limited. Recently, a
reduced FOV method using a 2D echo-planar RF (2D-EPRF) excitation pulse has
been proposed for high-resolution ss-EPI DWI. In this work, we present the
investigated improvements on this method, particularly optimization of the
2D-EPRF pulse to allow its use in various parts of the body. Specifically, we
apply the improved method to in vivo prostate, breast and larynx DWI to
demonstrate the high-resolution DWI capability of the reduced-FOV ss-EPI
method, with improved coverage in the slice direction.